STAFF BIOGRAPHIES
MARTIN P. ROBINSON (Producer, writer, director): is a professional puppeteer since 1975 and has worked with some of the most interesting companies in his travels. He learned his craft performing marionettes with Bil Baird and toured the country with Nicolo Marionettes. He has been a featured performer on Sesame Street since 1981, learning at the right hand (literally) of the greats including Jim Henson, Frank Oz and Jerry Nelson. He designed, built, coordinated and performed in the Nickelodeon show “Allegra’s Window,” performed the “Cat in the Hat” in “Wubbulous World of Dr. Seuss,” and spent five seasons on the British satire “Spitting Image.” He performed in five Muppet related feature films including animatronics for “Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles”.
Martin is best known for his work on the original 1982 production of “Little Shop of Horrors” and the Broadway revival in 2003 in which he designed, coordinated construction and performed the carnivorous plant Audrey II. He created the signature frog for Susan Stroman and Stephen Sondheim’s production of Nathan Lane’s “Frogs” at Lincoln Center. He also created and directed puppets for three productions at Carnegie Hall.
He has been on staff at the National Puppetry Conference for over two decades where he produced his first full length production, “Jackstraws in a Wind Tunnel,” as well as a cracked musical parody “Pigeon Holed,” and a pivotal scene from “All Hallows Eve.” He also wrote and directed two dark-themed puppet films as an instructor, one of which, “The Bottlestopper Project: Tales from the Dutch Tavern,” is currently on tour with Heather Henson’s Puppets on Film Series. As a member of the Conference’s staff, he conceived and implemented the “Puppet Anarchy” course.
Martin has also been a master teacher for Sesame Street International helping cast and train puppeteers in co-productions around the world. For more information visit: www.MartinPRobinson.com.
ANNIE EVANS (Producer, Dramaturg): Annie’s plays have been produced at such theatres as New York Stage and Film Company, Manhattan Class Company, Ensemble Studio Theatre, Circle Repertory Lab and the O’Neill National Playwrights Conference and at high schools and colleges around the country. Her work is published by Samuel French and Heinemann Press and she wrote a screenplay version of her one-act play FORGETTING FRANKIE for New Line Cinema. She received a NYFA grant and did several residencies at the MacDowell Colony. Annie worked at Sesame Workshop for 22 years writing on the domestic show and teaching and story editing for international productions around the world as well as for Children’s TV shows on Nickelodeon, Disney Channel, Animal Planet and PBS. For more information visit: AnnieEvans.com
PAUL RUDOLPH (composer): Paul Rudolph is a composer, arranger, instrument builder, and vocal music director/recordist for “Sesame Street”, where he received Emmy nominations for Music Direction in 2009 and 2013. He attended the University of Illinois for an M.S. in Music Composition. Paul’s passion for music composition melds into the “found-object” instrument realm, where he designs/builds musical oddities from industrial materials such as saw blades, artillery shells, and motorcycle gears. These instruments are a key element of the music in his percussion performance art group GLANK, and some were featured in excerpts of Martin Robinson’s Halloween Project at the O’Neill Puppetry Conference in 2013. PaulRudolphMusic.com
STATEMENT BY COMPOSER PAUL RUDOLPH
I couldn’t say “yes” fast enough when Marty asked me to work on All Hallows Eve. His incredible writing, innate sense of direction, and out-and-out “out-there-ness” truly inspire me. The direction Marty has given to me is really fun to compose for: a gothic-rock-opera and underscore of dialogue with other-worldly sounds. The live ensemble includes a rhythm section at its core, plus additional sonorities from pipe organ, low woodwinds, cello, unique GLANK instruments, and atmospheric sounds. The live vocals are affected as well, to give them another layer of disturbed-ness. And Marty’s vision of using a band on stage as part of the performance is a gift to a composer as well: I relish the thought of allowing the audience to see the direct interaction of musicians and on-stage performers.
JEAN MARIE KEEVINS: Jean Marie Keevins is a producer, puppet artist and writer. She is the lead producer for NY Times “Critic’s Picks,” The Flatiron Hex and the Executive Producer for Heather Henson & Ty Defoe’s Crane. She writes original works with her collaborators for Little Shadow Productions. Some of the groups that she’s worked with include Puppet Heap, The Muppets, “The Daily Show,” “Funny or Die” and Avenue Q. LittleShadowProductions.com
